I am officially becoming Chris Lofton's PR guy. 5 Florida Players get drafted... 3 of them in the top 10. But who won the SEC Player of the Year award? Chris Lofton. but he is still projected as a 2nd round pick in the 08 draft. He may be a little undersized but the kid is a gym rat and has one of the best shots in the nation. And he still grabs 3-4 rebounds a game and scored 20 points in the paint against Ohio St. and Oden. If someone can find a fault in his game other then being short please tell me and then explain to me how AI and Boykins and Damon Stoudamire are any different. His personality is alot like Arenas and if he goes 2nd round next year he will make every team that passed on him pay badly.

The whole knock on him is that he is a SG in a PG body. I know it isn't fair, but when looking at prospects, that is a red flag for sure.

I also think the fact that he has been on the map for so long hurts as well. People have seen him and moved on. Again, it isn't fair, but there is a "flavor of the month" thing that goes on in basketball. Lofton was one of the "hot" players a couple years ago, but now, a couple years later, and with a year left to go (seems like he has been playing for like 6 years), he is just kind of passed over.

Even college basketball fans pass him over. Sure he won SEC POY, which is a great honor, but you don't really see him mentioned a lot by fans and the guys on ESPN or anything. He is a great scorer and people know that, have known that, and will continue to know that. Being a good scorer for 4 years in college doesn't mean you will get the hype it takes to move up in the draft.

Please don't take anything I have said as an attack on your position or anything. I am just trying to help explain why, fair or not, he is not looked at as a great prospect.

But I do disagree with you some. Sure he could be another Arenas or AI, but what are the odds on that? You could just as easily say he is another DaJuan Wagner or Shawn Respert. What makes him so much better than Redick or Salim Stoudamire or Joe Forte? I think it is great you support him, and I think he has the potential to be a steal, but how high do you draft a potential steal? You think he is going to be good, I think he might possibly be good. That is the difference.

As for why, on the court, I don't love him as an NBA prospect, I just don't see a guy that has the knack to be a starting guard in the NBA. A shooter off the bench, yes. A starter that you can either trust to run the offense, or trust to guard SG, no. Arenas and AI are just special players and that is why they are so good. If he is like them, then he is one of the best smaller players ever. They are just on a different level in my opinion. It is like people saying Oden is the next Duncan, it is just unfair. Guys like Stoudamire have played PG and are better playmakers, and that is why I think they found spots in the NBA. A guy like Boykins is just like a freak. He bounced around for like 7 years before he found the perfect fit for him in Denver. I don't know how a guy like that hung around after playing for so many teams early in his career. On a side note, looking at his career stats, this just amazes me. He flopped around for his first couple seasons, I think he even went over to Europe, and then played 10 games for the Clips, shot 40% and 12% from 3 and they brought him back and he played 68 games the next year, still just shooting 40% and 31% from 3. Then GS finds him worthy of a contract and he kind of has a breakout season getting 8ppg, and then just blows up (kind of) in the following years with Denver.

I think the guy he will be most like in the NBA is David Wesley in his later Hornets and Rockets days when he played less PG. That was still a guy that averaged 10 to 16ppg, and around 3 or 4 assists, which is more than double what Lofton gets in college, but to be fair, he isn't asked to pass right now. I think that is at his best. An undersized PG, that might be a 10ppg scorer isn't worth a pick in the teens. I think maybe a team grabs in late in the 1st, but most likely in the 2nd just because of the height issue and lack of playmaking skills.

And on a side note, to go along with those posts about AI being 6-7 and stuff, if Lofton was just 3 inches taller, we are talking about him as a top 15 guy I think. We might even be talking about him as a current NBA player and former lottery pick.

month i don't disagree with you at all.... but Lofton is projected as undrafted! Wesley wen't undrafted and i guarantee every team has looked back and wished that their 2nd rounder that year accomplished as much as Wesley. I know he is small and he doesn't necessarily run the offense. But to be ranked 70th or something is ridiculous. Look at half the 2nd round picks 3 years ago and tell me where they are? I'm telling you that in 2011 Chris Lofton will be in the NBA contributing so for him to be ranked 10 or 15 players out of the draft is insane.

Which is why i said i am his new PR guy. Maybe because he has been consistent for a dull Tennessee team with little national exposure. Maybe because some people think he is too small. But the reason I can with 99% certainty tell you Lofton is not the likes of Dajaun Wagner is his drive and love of the game. Wagner thought he was the **** and didn't work. He took advantage of the fact that he had talent. Lofton has an amazing shot but he still goes into the gym night in and night out and shoots till the net falls off.

I know for an undersized guy it is a miracle to become a starter or a star. but if Lofton goes undrafted every scout in the NBA should be replaced. I would be more then happy with him going 1st round. I think he is a steal in the mid to late 2nd though.

And for the record I don't really like Lofton... he beat me in my Regional Championship game on a last second 3 to advance to state. I just know that I have played against him, talked to him, and watched him progress and know that this kid has something.

I can't disagree with anything you said because this is all opinion. I didn't realize Lofton was ranked 70th either. That is way to low. I figured he was at like 40 and you thought he should be in the top 20.

And the Wesley comparison was all about on the court stuff. Undersized SG, can shoot, not great playmaking skills.

yea i think he's a 30-45 rank. which is why I couldn't believe he was ranked 70 something. that is why i said that. In no way am I hyping him as a 1st round pick. although picking him 1st would be somewhat like Aaron Brooks this year and Brooks played some ball in the summer league (i know it doesn't mean alot) and seems to have proved the Rockets right about stretching for him

Aaron Brooks and Dee Brown are two recent players that I think you can look at for draft position. Obviously Brooks went higher than expect, but Lofton could as well. He could also fall too, but that is something to be decided on draft night.